


Progress

by gtgrandom



Category: Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-23
Updated: 2017-12-23
Packaged: 2019-02-18 19:39:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13107141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gtgrandom/pseuds/gtgrandom
Summary: Kaz is trying.  Oneshot.





	Progress

**Author's Note:**

> Just a short fic for the holidays. I read this duology MONTHS ago and I'm still dead.  
> ***Kind of spoiler content for Crooked Kingdom?***

He heard the soft thud of her feet on the windowsill, and he allowed himself the smallest of smiles. 

_She was back._

"You're a week early," he said, forcing himself to turn slowly, _slowly_ towards her. 

"The winds were kind," she said in that voice of hers.  It coursed through him like a remedy.  

He finally gazed upon his friend, and he couldn't help the small intake of breath. 

She'd cut her hair. It hung at her chin, wild and dark.  She looked older, but not withered and weary in age. _Free._   _Strong._

 _Alive._  

He realized she was closer now, only a foot away.  He wasn't sure who had moved, or if they'd subconsciously drawn closer.  It didn't matter.  He could smell her, sea breeze and the roofs of Ketterdam.  

Her eyes had fallen to his hands, bared before her.  

He'd been...trying.  

Adapting and adjusting to surfaces and textures.  For her.  

For _them..._ that is...if she still...

She seemed to read his mind, inching closer, reaching for his hand.

Tentatively, Kaz brushed his fingertips along her knuckles.  Her thumb caressed the side of his palm, and slowly, gently, their hands interlocked.

Inej glanced up at him, checking in on him. 

But the water didn’t rise.  The fear didn’t sweep in.

He brought their hands to his lips, and he kissed her delicate and calloused fingers. 

She gave a small shudder, but it wasn’t repulsion. 

Her lashes fluttered, and she looked at him with a kind of gentle reverence he had never understood.  She looked at him like he wasn’t a vile demon or the cruel remains of a boy. 

She gazed at him as if he’d never joined the Dregs.  She saw the part of him he long ago presumed dead and lost.

It was terrifying, her piercing vision, and a bit relieving.

There was hope for him yet. 

“My spiders aren’t shit,” he confessed, releasing her hand but remaining close to her. 

“You’ll find a proper replacement.”

He hated that word.

Replace?

Replace Inej?

Never.

“I don’t want a replacement,” he murmured. 

She smiled softly.  “The sea is my home now, Kaz.  It’s where I belong.”

His eyes abandoned hers, and he drew away from her gravity. 

He sat down at his desk, massaging his knee.

He was trying.  He was trying so hard to be what she needed. 

But that was just it.

She didn’t need anyone.  She was her own person now, more than ever.  

And she didn’t have any strings.

She blinked at him sadly and moved toward him.   Cautiously. “You haven’t been sleeping.”

“I’ve been busy.”

“Caffeine won’t keep you alive.”

“My beating heart begs to differ.”

She rolled her eyes.

She was standing before him now, and he craned his neck to look at her.

“There’s a piece missing,” she said, and he frowned at her.   She reached out for him again, and he closed his eyes, forcing himself not to flinch.  He succeeded, and his skin didn’t prickle at her touch.  It melted.  “I thought my heart was devoted to the _Wraith_. To this new purpose.  But there’s a piece missing.” 

Her hands settled on his shoulders, and then she was slowly, deftly, settling herself on his lap, her legs swinging down on either side of him.

He opened his eyes, and she was a breath away.

He could feel her warmth, her softness, and it was nothing like Jordie and his nightmare.

He could feel the heat, the life coursing through her, and it brewed something dangerous in his chest.

“Just a piece?” he ventured, resting his hands tenderly on her waist.

She smiled, wide and beautiful, and he felt himself leaning forward, begging.

She’d made him weak.

But he trusted her with his weakness.

Her nose brushed his, and they nudged against one another, urging the other to make the first move, to breach their defenses.

Her hands slid up his shoulders to his neck, threading into his hair, tantalizing.  He couldn’t stand it.

He pressed his lips against hers with a force that surprised them both.

She recovered instantly—his Wraith, always on her toes. 

She kissed him deeply, thriving, pulsing with energy.  His hands rose along her thin waist, gripping her tightly, before she faded into ocean mist.

She tasted like spice and tea and heaven.  Or as close to heaven as he’d ever get.

They broke apart, and she panted against his lips, grazing his nose, smiling without restraint.

They both knew that was enough for tonight.  They’d broken new ground.  They’d taken down the barrier.  They’d climbed the peak.

It was a gentle slope from here.

She traced his jawline with her fingertip. 

“Promise me you’ll protect it.”

“Protect what?”

“The piece I’m leaving behind.”

“I’m not a caretaker, Inej.”

She fixed him with a fond and exasperated look. “Take care of yourself, Kaz.  I can’t bear to lose you.”

He swallowed.  Nodded. 

He didn’t say it back, but she knew his heart. 

That piercing gaze knew all.

  


End file.
